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“You
always own the option of having no opinion. There is
never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about
things you can't control. These
things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.”― Marcus
Aurelius, Meditations

The ability to remain calm and composed in
all situations in life is called ‘Equanimity’. Well, I have a long way to go before I can
reach there! But, I am trying my best… Along my way to this place called
‘equanimity’, I have recognized some of my roadblocks… At times, I tend to take others’ problems on
my shoulders… At times, I worry about ‘outside situations’
which are beyond my control – wars, earthquakes, plane crash, hurricanes,
riots, gang rapes and gang wars, elections, political and religious discord… At times, I take praise to my head and abuse
to my heart… I take them personally… At times, I fall prey to propaganda… It
makes me take sides, become biased… form strong opinions… Be rigid… I tend to worry about my health, money and
future…

We all have our heroes who inspire us
immensely. We like to talk about them animatedly… how they made it to the top
the hard way from their obscure backgrounds. I think, a deep admiration for our
respective heroes – be it from the field of Films, Sports, TV, Radio, Business,
Politics, Social Work, Religion or Education whatever – helps us to shape our
personalities… It motivates us to achieve our own goals in life… The Law of Attraction is an age-old Law of success.
It says, “What we deeply like and admire, we attract.” Thus, when we deeply
like and admire our heroes, we attract their qualities in us. Ritesh* is a young man doing his first year
degree college. He is obsessed with football… He started playing football as a
kid and played at many levels. However, he does not see his future in football,
even though he breathes football by watching great teams play internationally.
Like many …

“What
is easily available, often, not much valued,” said Kannan, in our Tai Chi
class, this morning. Late, last evening, Girija ma’am, his wife, had sent me a
message: “Gerry, the movie ‘The
Walk’ is being aired on TV channel Star Movies, now.” When this movie, “The
Walk’ was released two years ago, I had watched it in the theatre and, on
following Sunday, I had raved about it in the Tai Chi class. Kannan, who is
selective about movies, had watched it with his wife and was highly impressed.
Girija ma’am knew about it, and, so, she had messaged me about the movie being
shown on TV, last evening. “Sir, did you watch ‘The
Walk’ on TV yesterday?” I asked Kannan, today. “I was out yesterday,”
Kannan told me, “So, I could watch only the last part… But, what a movie it is!” Kannan went on to rave
about it for the next ten minutes. “There are so many life lessons in that
movie,” he said, “To me, it is not just about wire-walking… It’s about life!" I remembered the words
of Philippe Petit in th…

“If the
cherry trees had to wait for understanding, they'd
never blossom.” ― Marty
Rubin

I will never advise anyone to lead a
hippy-kind-of life: Live carefree… Do
whatever you like… Go wherever you wish to… Wear whatever you want to… Eat, sleep
and love in whatever way you wish to. That life, no doubt, may seem very spontaneous
and less burdensome. But, it won’t suit the world we live in… If we can’t fit in here, where else can we
live? So, we need to balance our spontaneity with
our sanity. Living a life with too much
planning and caution and living a life of absolute carefree-ness and
sponateiity – yes, in my view, both are extremes… I will not advocate, therefore, anyone to
resort to these two extremes. Caution and planning are good. Carefree-ness and spontaneity,
too, are good. When we combine both of them in our life, life can be less
stressful… more productive and happy. To help us worry less about our future, we
are often advised to look at how birds go about their life. “B…

“Rivers,
ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names,but they
all contain water. Just as religions do –they all
contain truths.” - Muhammad Ali There cannot be several Creators of this
Universe. It means, there cannot be several Gods… your God, his god and my God.
It’s silly to even think that our prayers are made to different Gods – even though
we call Him by different names… and worship in different ways. Yes, it’s really
silly to even think that we all are different as far as God’s children are
concerned. “Religions get lost as people do,” said
Franz Kafka. When we are lost, how can
we see and appreciate the beauty in our fellow-men’s religions?

I just can’t understand how my religion can
be better than my fellow-men’s… How my God can be superior to theirs. Till I cannot see and appreciate the beauty
in my fellow-men’s faith and prayers, I
cannot see in my own… I regularly play on my PC soft religious
music. They belong to all faith… my own, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Zen, …

The other day, a friend of mine, who is a lecturer in a city college, was asked a tricky question in one of the
interviews she had faced: “What is the most important social responsibility of
a teacher?” My friend, later, asked me, “Sir, you have taught
for four decades. What would have been your answer?” I remembered Manushi Chhillar. She had just
won the hearts of not only the Miss World judges but of everyone around the
world. The final question to her was: “Which profession, according to you,
deserves the highest salary?” We all got floored by the utterly simple yet
mind-blowing answer of Manushi: “I think a mother deserves the highest
respect and when you talk about salary it’s not always about cash but I feel
it’s the love and respect that you give to someone. My mother has always
been the biggest inspiration in my life. All mothers sacrifice so much for
their kids. So, I think it is the job of a mother that deserved the highest
salary.” And, for this answer, Manushi Chhillar, our
youn…

“I am sorry… Tried my best and I failed… Forgive
me my ocean and my country.” With these words, Afroz Shah suspended the
Varsova-beach-clean-up drive 110 weeks after he first started it… Alone, that
was! But, has Afroz
really failed? Not in my
view. To me, Afroz is a
winner… an inspiration… a true hero. I have always
believed in Afroz’s kind of initiative, his kind of ‘social change’. “Don’t ask
what your country can do for you; Ask what you can do for your country.” I was
in ninth standard when I came across these inspiring words of JFK’s speech in
our English text book. This was how Mahatma Gandhi, (Afroz’s inspiration) carried
out his mighty movement of social change: “Be the change you wish to see in
this world”… Yes, don’t wait for the authorities and others to do it. You do it…
Start from you and others will join you. This was precisely how Mother Teresa
went about carrying out her mammoth mission: “I alone cannot change the world;
but I can cast a stone across the waters to cre…

Let’s accept it: Most of us spend a lot of
time on social media – Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on. So, it
makes no difference at all for people like me, who do not watch TV or listen to
radio as many around do. Young kids, who are hooked on to video games, and, we adults, who are hooked on to social media – honestly, I find no difference in our
respective addictions. While we adults can get away by justifying
our own addictions to social media, the little and young ones, who are at our
mercy, can’t… at least majority of them. So, they have to go into hiding to
play their games… We don’t have to. Everyone’s mind is weak, including mine. My
justification, for spending some of my time on FB, is my passion for writing.
I have been writing since I was a college boy… I would write notes in my dairies…
hundreds of hundreds of them, every day. It was only in 2008, I started writing
my daily notes directly in my blog. I wasn’t on FB for another five years or
so. Many of my well…

'Passionate about Life.'... That's how I see myself. For me, the term 'passion' has a special meaning. It is living life with its totality... With all its hues and confusions, with all its triumphs and defeats.
I consider myself as a little kid, still groping in the dark -- trying to find a way out of this great maze. Sometimes, I wonder: whether there is a way out at all? Whether the maze itself is the way?
Thus, as a kid awe-struck by this amazing mystery called LIFE, I have a lot to share with my fellow kids. I believe, it would be an exciting and fulfilling journey, each morning...
I am, indeed, looking forward to each dawn, with fresh eyes... And my fresh note to share...
Love,
GERALD D'CUNHA